Case Details

Nineteen-year-old Antoine Goff was convicted of murder in the 1989 gang killing of Roderick Shannon. No physical evidence was used to convict Goff or his co-defendent, John Tennison, and the only eyewitnesses were two young girls. Goff (and Tennison) had their conviction overturned after evidence originally withheld prosecutors was brought to light. The prosecution failed to turn over key evidence to the defense, including evidence that revealed a secret payment to witnesses, two eyewitnesses that contradicted the girls, and a man who confessed to killing Shannon on tape during an interrogation. Prosecutors, under intense pressure to make arrests in a slew of gang related killings during the 1980’s in San Francisco, chose to rely on the testimony of two young girls rather than investigate the case further. Due to prosecutorial misconduct and the very weak case against Goff and Tennison, both men were exonerated in 2003.